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Geoff Hare
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Football in France: A Cultural History: v. 4 (Global Sport Cultures) Paperback – 1 April 2003

by Geoff Hare (Author)
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France's performance in the 2002 World Cup brought back painful memories of a time when France was a weak contender in world and European football - a time when national or club teams rarely won, and the French were renowned for having little interest in the game. Today, football plays a unique role in French society. French players and coaches are highly sought after abroad and the national team has chalked up significant recent victories, including a World Cup and European Championship. This book is the first in English to examine the extraordinary cultural, economic, and political history behind French football's development throughout the twentieth century and up to the present day. It focuses on the past twenty years and concludes with a discussion of the fallout from the World Cup 2002. Imported from Britain by the middle classes in the late nineteenth century, football entered French national consciousness between the wars. As with everywhere else in Europe, the game helped to unite communities and forge new social identities. Although the State has generously supported youth coaching, the evolution of the professional sport has been slow due to tight community control, high taxes and lack of income from paying spectators. In a bid to compete successfully in Europe, the owners of France's big city clubs are seeking to commercialize the game, despite the resistance of central and local authorities. Hare traces the gradual evolution of traditional French football values and explores the impact of new and controversial business practices. Have French football's influential club chairmen sold out to business values and television? Why has the national team been so successful when club teams have not? How are top clubs being re-branded to catch a national and international audience of consumers? What role does the modern supporter play, and what are the links between businessmen, politics and the commercialization of the sport? What is peculiarly French about Fr
Previous page
  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Berg Publishers
  4. Publication date
    1 April 2003
  5. Dimensions
    15.6 x 1.3 x 23.39 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1859736629
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1859736623
  8. Lexile measure
    1480L
  9. See all details
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Product description

Review

"What has been lacking is the understanding of the culture of the game in France ... Geoff Hare's well-informed study fills that knowledge gap to perfection." --Four Four Two

"The aim of Football in France is to show how what was for many yea rs an essentially community and voluntary activity is now threatened by a tough looking combination of big business, satellite tv and the European Parliament ... the big issues are thought provokingly compared with the situation in Britain." --Soccer History

"Provides an account of how national identity and community values are being transformed and reshaped in the global marketplace, and there are undoubted lessons to be learned by other nations, and cultures, if France's on-field success is a genuine aspiration." --Programme Monthly & Football Collectable

"Hare's book has a leavening of humour, with some splendid vignettes of the great personalities...The great ideological conflicts that have marked French history are insc ribed into the history of its football culture, as Hare's book shows so well." --Saturday's Guardian

About the Author

Geoff Hare Retired Senior Lecturer in French,University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berg Publishers (1 April 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1859736629
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1859736623
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.6 x 1.3 x 23.39 cm
  • Customer reviews:

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Geoff Hare

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Customer reviews

3.4 out of 5 stars
3.4 out of 5
6 global ratings

Top review from United Kingdom

Kierkegaard
4.0 out of 5 stars Allez Les Bleus!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2014
Verified Purchase
This is a fine read, albeit one that has been overtaken a little by the emergence in the past two seasons of Monaco and PSG as cash-rich clubs bank-rolled by billionaires. But leaving aside the fact that the dynamics of Ligue 1 aren't quite the same as they were 11 years ago when the book was first published, the insights into the history of professional football, the French attitude to sport and the attitude of French football supporters groups are fascinating, particular given that they contrast so strongly with the English game. This book might be considered a bit 'dry' because it is very much an academic work, but that's a positive too because hyperbole is not allowed to get in the way of the facts. If you want to understand the French and learn about yet another successful alternative to how we 'do football' in England then read this book.
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Top reviews from other countries

JP67
5.0 out of 5 stars Histoire du foot en France
Reviewed in France on 12 March 2017
Verified Purchase
This is a must read for anyone who is interested in the history of football in France and its place in French society today. It's target audience is mainly academics interested in this theme, but it is very well written and would be a good read for any football fan.
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